Thanks!

The silver bullet to weight loss issssss….CUBE CHEESE DIET! (jk, excerpt from Devil Wear’s Prada x.x)

It was a balanced approach from A-Z between nutrition (75%) and exercise (25%). The rule of thumb is that you can’t out-eat a bad workout but likewise, you can’t out-work a bad diet.

Nutrition plays the largest role in body transformation and if we’re talking weight/fat loss, leads the charge. Exercise plays a more minimal role in weight loss but nutrition can’t tone muscle , up cardio endurance or increase muscle mass; that’s where exercise dominates. The result you see from my picture was balanced sum of these 2 inputs (exercise & nutrition).

For my workouts, I incorporated cardio in the form of something known as Cardio Acceleration. This is when you incorporate cardio intervals during your rest between strength sets. For example, I would perform a set of bench press and instead of resting for a minute, I would do jump rope before performing my next set. There have been numerous studies showing the overwhelming advantage of performing cardio in intervals versus steady state (i.e., running 30 min @ 7mph). Steady state cardio is boring with low reward in comparison to interval & strength training. Spice it up while time compounding (who wouldn’t want that?)

Nutritionally, I cut out all simple sugars and processed carbs; the fat gremlins ravaging the waistline of America. Additionally, I avoided “drinking calories” by cutting out alcohol, fruit juices, soda, and other sugary drinks. Nutrition is a healthy concoction of balance, discipline, and a dash of common sense.

It truly is easier than it looks but avoid the “all-in” approach where it’s either you go big or go home. There is no wrong way to train, only many rights with one of those being what’s right for you, your needs, goals, and situation.

Hope to see some great progress pics and updates from you. Keep me posted!

Keep Fighting The Good Fight

Is this only on the squat machine or with most of your exercises?

Here’s a few reasons why you might get lightheaded during exercise:

Dehydration: You’ve probably heard this a thousand times, but it’s true. When you exercise, you’re increasing body heat which is why you sweat, to cool off. Sweat isn’t just water, it’s packed with a number of electrolytes like sodium, potassium, and calcium. If you’re not rehydrating during your workout (as well as before/after), you will feel lightheaded.

Improper Breathing: This is often overlooked but could easily be the culprit. Proper breathing means inhaling on the “easy” part of the lift where you’re fighting gravity, then exhaling on the “hard” part of the lift where you’re fighting the weight. [I.e., Bench Press: Inhale when lowering the weight to your chest, exhale as you push the weight back to starting position.]

Low Blood Pressure: Feeling light-headed is a symptom of low blood pressure but do not get this confused with heart rate. You have 2 values with blood pressure, systolic (top number) and diastolic (bottom number). Systolic will rise during exercise with diastolic stays the same or lowers slightly. In measuring this, take your blood pressure before you exercise and then again during exercise to compare the two against each other.

Hope that helps and let me know if the problem persists!

I’m a minimalist when it comes to marketing and really try to let my personality do the marketing for me. My methods for acquiring new clients included:

Group Fitness Classes: Many people will approach you following a good class. A great way to connect with many would-be clients

Educational Seminars: There isn’t a size limit for attendance and frankly, you may have to start small and build from there. The benefit though is if you educate your would-be clients first, when you try to sell them training packages there will be higher perceived value resulting in a better conversion rate.

Bootcamps: This expands your would-be customer base by attracting those outside the gym (if you’re employed through a gym) or your would-be customer base in general (if you’re an independent trainer). Creating a medium to connect with those looking for a great workout but not necessarily a PT yet will hopefully nurture over time resulting in continuing business following completion of the bootcamp.

Referrals: By far the most reliable and cost-effective method of marketing. If you do good by your client, 9 times out of 10 your client will return the favor by telling those closest to them about your amazing services. Multiple times I’ve had a single client refer upwards of 5-8 people giving me a huge boost of business) which shows one client can be a significant catalyst.

If you look for a pattern in the methods above, you’ll notice that the key to building an organic client base is capitalizing on the “personal” part of personal training. There are many trainers, but few personal trainers. Being able to connect with clients on a deeper level, really tapping into their emotions to help them overcome those barriers to entry will increase your value proposition as a trainer, increasing the likelihood of scoring clients.

All in all, the cost to market was almost non-existent minus business cards and the occasional flyer. The power is in the people. Focus on leveraging your network to maximize business.

Let me know how things go and keep me updated!

Unfortunately it isn’t. As you can assume, standing in one place for over an hour doesn’t burn an abundance of calories and the weight loss during the session is usually water weight derived from sweating in a 105 degree room at 40% humidity!

Yoga is a great toner and exposes your weaknesses within your core which are the backbone muscles of any cardio/resistance training program. Give it a try and let me know what you thought of it. I’ll hold out on sharing my experience until then ^^

Not at all! And to get the most out of your workout, I would suggest combining the two spicing things up.

Try a super-set workout with cardio intervals between sets (active rest). Here’s a quick example:

• Dumbbell Chest Press (Upper Body - Chest) 12-15 reps
• Dumbbell Squat (Lower Body) 12-15 reps
• Active Rest - Step Ups for 1 min
• Seated Cable Row (Upper Body - Back) 12-15 reps
• Hamstring Leg Curl (Lower Body) 12-15 reps
• Active Rest - Jump Rope for 1 min
• Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press (Upper Body - Shoulder) 12-15 reps
• Walking Dumbbell Lunge (Lower Body) 12-15 reps
• Active Rest - Step Ups for 1 min
• Medicine Ball Toe Touches (Upper Abs) 15-20 reps
• Hanging Knee Raises (Lower Abs) 15-20 reps
• Active Rest - Jump Rope for 1 min

That would be a full super-set round where you pair upper/lower body exercise (two opposites) with active rest intervals of cardio in between. The active rest keeps the blood flowing and the calories burning during your “rest” time.

That was just one example of how you can incorporate cardio on your training days. Let me know how it goes and if you have any other questions, fire away!

So the list could go on forever and we might have different tastes, so here’s a good rule of thumb :)

If it has to convince you it’s healthy, it probably isn’t. Just as if someone has to convince you they’re religious, they’re probably not.

Go for the natural power foods like almonds, avocados, celery + PB, boiled eggs, most berries, and steamed broccoli (just throw some EVOO on it with a few herbs). This is my usual snack list that I nibble on between meals. 

They may seem boring but they’re foundational foods and ones that are mentioned over and over again for a reason!